Landscape and Cattle Management Attributes Associated with the Incidence of Desmodus Rotundus Attacks on Cattle
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336410342 Landscape and cattle management attributes associated with the incidence of Desmodus rotundus attacks on cattle Article · January 2020 DOI: 10.19136/era.a6n18.2164 CITATIONS READS 0 209 5 authors, including: Jose Ignacio Fernández-Méndez Rodrigo A. Medellín Instituto Nacional de Pesca Mexico Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 10 PUBLICATIONS 47 CITATIONS 214 PUBLICATIONS 7,143 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Alba Z Rodas-Martínez Rafael Avila-Flores Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco 9 PUBLICATIONS 38 CITATIONS 36 PUBLICATIONS 476 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Placement of Myotis planiceps within the Myotis phylogeny View project Ecología y conservación de jaguar (Panthera onca) en Sinaloa, México View project All content following this page was uploaded by Rafael Avila-Flores on 11 October 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Lanzagorta-Valencia et al. Incidence of bites by hematophagous bats Ecosist. Recur. Agropec. 7(1):1-10,2020 Landscape and cattle management attributes associated with the incidence of Desmodus rotundus attacks on cattle Características del paisaje y de manejo ganadero asociadas a la incidencia de ataques al ganado bovino por Desmodus rotundus Karla Lanzagorta-Valencia1 , José Ignacio Fernández-Méndez2 , Rodrigo A. Medellín1 , Alba Z. Rodas-Martínez3 , Rafael Ávila-Flores1;3∗ 1Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N Anexo Jardín Botánico Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, México. 2Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Av. México #190 Col. El Carmen, 03310 Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, México. 3División Académica de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, km 0.5 Carr. Villahermosa-Cárdenas S/N, entronque a Bosques de Saloya, 86039 Villahermosa, Tabasco, México. ∗Corresponding author: [email protected] Scientific article received: February 28, 2019 accepted: August 06, 2019 ABSTRACT. Bovine paralytic rabies, transmitted by Desmodus RESUMEN. La rabia paralítica bovina, transmitida por Desmodus rotundus, causes economic losses for Latin American livestock rotundus, provoca pérdidas económicas al sector ganadero lati- producers. Although the total number of reported cases has noamericano. Aunque el número total de casos notificados ha decreased markedly due to vaccination campaigns, economic disminuido notablemente debido a las campañas de vacunación, losses can be significant for smallholders. Identifying risk fac- las pérdidas económicas pueden ser significativas para pe- tors for vampire bat attacks on cattle could help guide preven- queños propietarios. Identificar factores de riesgo podría ayudar tive control efforts in specific areas. The objective of this study a orientar esfuerzos de control preventivo en zonas específicas. was to analyze the relationship between the incidence of D. ro- El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la relación entre la inciden- tundus attacks on cattle and various landscape features and cia de mordeduras por D. rotundus y diversos atributos pisajís- cattle management practices in northeastern Puebla, Mexico. ticos y de manejo ganadero en el noreste de Puebla, México. We visited 61 properties with cattle between May and October Se visitaron 61 propiedades con ganado entre mayo y octubre 2011, in which we quantified the incidence of attacks on cattle de 2011; en cada sitio se cuantificó la incidencia de ataques al and described landscape and cattle management attributes. The ganado y se describieron las características del paisaje y del following features were described within a 200-m radius around manejo ganadero. En un radio de 200 m alrededor del sitio de the nightly resting site of cattle: topography, percent forest cover, descanso nocturno del ganado, se registró: topografía, cobertura and number of forest fragments, rivers and streams, tree lines, vegetal y número de fragmentos vegetales, ríos y arroyos, líneas buildings, roads and highways. With these variables, we built de árboles, construcciones humanas, carreteras y autopistas. models that were assumed to describe the levels of human in- Con estas variables, se construyeron modelos que describieron: terference, prey availability, and movement facilitation for bats. facilitación de movimiento, niveles de interferencia humana y The human interference model (number of buildings plus num- disponibilidad de presas para los murciélagos. El modelo de in- ber of roads) best explained the incidence of attacks on cattle. terferencia humana (número de construcciones más número de According to our results, the cattle with the highest vulnerability caminos) fue el que mejor explicó la incidencia de ataques. Los to attacks by vampire bats are those resting at night in less con- resultados sugieren que el ganado más vulnerable a los ataques fined sites, far away from human activity. Results of this study de vampiros es el que descansa por la noche en sitios menos suggest that rabies vaccination campaigns on cattle should focus confinados y lejos de la actividad humana. Se propone que las on fragmented areas with few livestock management practices. campañas de vacunación contra la rabia bovina se concentren Key words: Fragmentation, cattle ranching, vampire bat, Puebla, en áreas fragmentadas con escasas prácticas de manejo. rabies. Palabras clave: Fragmentación, ganadería, murciélago vampiro, Puebla, rabia. DOI: 10.19136/era.a6n18.2164 www.ujat.mx/era ISSN: 2007-9028 E. ISSN: 2007-901X 1 Lanzagorta-Valencia et al. Incidence of bites by hematophagous bats Ecosist. Recur. Agropec. 7(1):1-10,2020 INTRODUCTION Identifying risk zones is very useful in guiding preventive vaccination efforts in areas where livestock Bovine paralytic rabies represents one of the are most vulnerable to attacks by D. rotundus. The main problems for cattle ranching in the tropical re- few studies conducted on this subject suggest that the gions of the Americas (Lee et al. 2012). The disease, incidence of attacks on livestock seems to be related caused by a virus of the genus Lyssavirus (family to landscape attributes, especially those that describe Rhabdoviridae), has a long incubation period culmi- the distribution of forested areas. For example, in the nating in an acute and lethal course (Fisher et al. state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, riparian zones are reported 2018). Bovine paralytic rabies is usually transmitted to be landscape elements that facilitate attacks on by an infected animal biting a susceptible one, as livestock, because they favor the presence of suitable the virus is present in the saliva of sick animals. To roosts for D. rotundus (Taddei et al. 1991). However, date, the only known vector of this virus to livestock a study conducted in four municipalities in the same is the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), Brazilian state found that rivers are not associated which feeds opportunistically on the blood of various with the risk of D. rotundus attacks on cattle (Gomes mammalian species (Johnson et al. 2014). et al. 2007). In another study conducted in the state of Cases of bovine rabies are geographically Sao Paulo, it was found that pastures with the highest limited to the distribution area of D. rotundus, which number of reported attacks on cattle tended to be ranges from Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Sonora and surrounded by forest and sugarcane crops (Gomes Chihuahua in Mexico, to central Chile, northern Ar- et al. 2010). Recently, it was reported that some feral gentina and southern Brazil (Zarza et al. 2017). pigs were attacked by D. rotundus in an oil palm frag- In the last 50 years, the total number of reported ment surrounded by pastures, but not in other loca- cases in Latin America has decreased by several or- tions (Hernández-Pérez et al. 2019). In contrast, a ders of magnitude, largely as a result of intense pre- study conducted in the Bolivian Prepuna reported that ventive vaccination campaigns (Arellano-Sota 1988). the incidence of attacks on stabled goats was more However, bovine rabies continues to be a problem associated with the characteristics of the stockyards that generates significant economic losses for the than with the characteristics of the vegetation (Moya livestock sector. For example, between 1993 and et al. 2015). This suggests that livestock manage- 2002, 31 187 cases of bovine rabies were reported in ment strategies may affect the likelihood of a domestic Latin America (Belotto et al. 2005). In Mexico, in re- animal being attacked. For example, it has been re- cent years, rabies outbreaks have spread to regions ported that cows that disperse inside pastures during where they had previously not occurred (Bárcenas- the night are less attacked than those that are kept Reyes et al. 2015). It is difficult to establish the pre- together (Delpietro and Russo 1996), while stabled cise amount of losses caused by bovine rabies, as animals (pigs) tend to be more attacked than those cases usually occur in livestock areas where access (cows) that move freely near villages (Bobrowiec et to veterinary services is insufficient, there is little al. 2015). or no notification by producers, in many cases due This paper is founded on the assumption that to lack of knowledge of the disease or difficulty in the attributes analyzed (vegetation cover, topography, communicating